so here's a silly joke...

Why are people so tired on the first day of April?

Try to guess - go on. Answer on next blog entry.

So... Merry Christmas and all that. Lots has gone on since my last blog. Lots. Too much to mention here. All I'll say is that I have just gone out and bought three self-help books. Let's hope this coming year improves upon the last two.

christmas tree oh christmas tree

It's going to be a funny old Christmas. I'm not sure if we are all going to be together so it's a bit hard to plan, but whatever happens it will be a quiet one that's for sure. Haven't done any shopping yet, but I did manage yesterday to go and acquire a small pine tree and stick some glittery nonsense up on it. Here it is in all its finery.
I have been very spoiled by the Auckland printer that I use for my magazine work. He has sent me the most amazing bunch of flowers - so big I could barely fit it in the largest vase. What a lift it gave me. I almost wanted to be a florist when I was a teenager - my nana was a florist and I thought it would be cool to follow in her footsteps, but somewhere I gave up on the idea.

King Kong

I managed a birds-eye view of the red carpet at the New Zealand premiere of King Kong. Not a ticket to the actual premiere unfortunately, but I was watching from the 2nd floor of the Embassy Theatre where it was being screened. The Film Festival office is up there, hence the special staff security pass (I have one from when Lord of the Rings screened too - nice memento). I spent my time critiquing the fashion faux pas and picking out the celebrities whilst knocking back a few glasses of bubbles. Jack Black wasn't there but Jamie Bell, Naomi Watts and Adrien Brody were. I nearly didn't recognise Peter Jackson - he's such a shadow of his former self. He wasn't wearing the usual purple shirt - I guess it's too big for him now.

worst album covers

And there are some doozies...

See how many of these you own. Once you get there you'll need to scroll down to see the art.

Beatles fans...

Okay, this isn't that new. In fact, Pitchfork's review went up in January this year. Oh hell, guess I'm a bit behind on the music news!! Oh my.

Anyhoo. There's this great tribute album - 40th anniversary of the release of the wonderful Rubber Soul. It's called This Bird Has Flown. Check it out on download.com - they have audio samples. I haven't heard the full album yet, but it's on my To Buy list. I like the sound of Low doing "Nowhere Man" - a very straight version with their usual gorgeous but simple harmonies. Ben Lee's "In My Life" is also nice. I think that I would keep Ben Harper's "Michelle" on skip though. I just don't like that guy. He's so earnest. His voice grates simply 'cos he annoys me as a person. I have a mean streak sometimes. I swear I will end up a crotchety old woman with lots of cats.

Life the universe and everything

Well, actually, just life. Here's where mine is looking.

This Is My Life, Rated
Life:	6
Mind:	6.1
Body:	6.1
Spirit:	6
Friends/Family:	6.9
Love:	7.3
Finance:	6.7
Take the Rate My Life Quiz

Hey! What's your world view?

You scored as Cultural Creative. Cultural Creatives are probably the newest group to enter this realm. You are a modern thinker who tends to shy away from organized religion but still feels as if there is something greater than ourselves. You are very spiritual, even if you are not religious. Life has a meaning outside of the rational. Cultural Creative 94% Idealist 81% Postmodernist 69% Existentialist 31% Fundamentalist 31% Materialist 25% Modernist 19% Romanticist 0% What is Your World View? (updated) created with QuizFarm.com

Metal

I have a new-found respect for metal. Music that is. Having gone to experience once more a sonic assault by the wonderful Yellow Swans, I got to hear also the "shamanic black hole doom" of Black Boned Angel. (Their words, not mine.) They came on first - Campbell Kneale on guitar (Birchville Cat Motel) and the drummer from The Stumps on bass. Between them they conjured up a glowering mass of noise that filled every crevice and orifice of everything and everyone at the little Valve bar. Big shuddering guitar, deeply primal. Kneale's connection to his guitar, and at times, the speaker, looked deeply sexual. Or had I drunk too much beer. And then, my initiation into the metal scene: Backyard Burial "Lower Hutt Grind Scum". It was as much fun to watch the crowd as it was the band. Since I listen mostly to indie pop, alt country, electronica in many forms and a bit of what could be described loosely as rock, this was totally new to me. I hear something of it's ilk out of my son's bedroom. I kinda liked it. I got myself into a headspace that was just taking it in: watching, observing, listening, and trying not to judge. I ended up coming to the conclusion that there were similarities here with jungle - fast dirty jackhammer beats - than with any other music I knew. And then - another dose of Yellow Swans. These guys play for a short time, but with music as intense as theirs it's long enough. It was so intense I nearly peed my pants. Okay, that's a lie, but I don't know how else to describe how it built up internally till I felt like I was gonna burst. I wonder what it must feel to make music like that. It's like an incanatation - summoning up some kind of ferocious manifestation of noise. Exhilirating. Saying that the music has an orgasmic nature sounds trite, but it's kinda true. I don't know that I would want to listen to them recorded. I imagine it would lose it's intensity.

messin with yo eyes

Check this out. Now my eyes feel funny.

It's been over a month!

Bah, it's happened again. I've left my blog for over a month! But then again, not a lot has happened. For a while I was insanely busy with work - like the most work EVER! That meant evenings and weekends and every fricking minute of every fricking day. But it did mean a whopping round of invoicing for last month - a wonderful feeling, and it will be even more wonderful when the cheques start rolling in around the twentieth. However, now it's quiet. I've been spending the days rebuilding my Mac and installing Tiger (bloody clashes with existing software, of course), sorting out the box of various business cards from suppliers, clients and friends and putting them into separate business card folders, catching up with admin, and generally freaking out that I need more work! BUT I have also been taking the time to enjoy the fact that I have some spare time, so I've also potted up some tomatoes, planted herbs, and am about to get some veges into the garden - lettuces, aubergine, two kinds of beans, spuds, carrots. Oh, and some pretty little flowers for the garden. Awwww. Including a rose, naturally.

I'm trying to remember any sparkling social moments over the last month, but they are few and far between. SOD and I went up to Palmy for Ben's show at the Manawatu - great show, but the night out on the town in Palmy was strange - it was Hallowe'en and there was some themed street party going on in town so we hung out there and drank beer with the locals. I don't understand why NZ has wholeheartedly adopted this American tradition. We never celebrated it back in my childhood. I think it snuck in over the 80s. Fucking TV culture. (Am I sounding old or what?)

Had some fun on the way back home in a little town called Shannon - bought some stuff from their little antique store, including this ring and this cool little Welsh pipe for SOD. Also some books on theosophy from their weird little bookshop.

On Friday night I went to see Hollie Smith at Indigo - it was her EP launch and it was so so great. She has the best voice in Wellington. Truly an inspiring woman. And sexy. It was almost 1am when that finished so I headed off to Happy where they were having a late night noise/drone evening, featuring a couple of friends and ending with an outfit called Yellow Swans from the US (Portland Oregon no less). See Stephen's blog about them. They were pretty impressive. Had a most excellent stint in town drinking far too much and got home at some ridiculous hour. A sign that I am indeed getting old is that I spent almost my entire weekend recovering. Sad but true.

On the work front, I've just finished a magazine in German. That was fun - it's a new tourism mag aimed at Germans planning to visit NZ. And it looks pretty good, I reckon. Also just completed all the promo material for Circa's production of their yearly Xmas show. This year it's Cinderella (flyer pictured here). Should be some fun. I'm planning to head along with my girls.

Next on the agenda is getting a project underway as I might be in a group show at the beginning of the year, so I had better get myself organised!

the last days of freedom (if only we knew)

Thanks to Paintergirl for this one.

First go here. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the year you graduated high school. Bold the songs you loved to hear, italise the ones you hated and red the ones you don't remember.

Oh god, this doesn't really work for me. I hated almost all commercial music.

1. Physical, Olivia Newton-John
2. Eye Of The Tiger, Survivor
3. I Love Rock N' Roll, Joan Jett and The Blackhearts
4. Ebony And Ivory, Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder
5. Centerfold, J. Geils Band
6. Don't You Want M, Human League
7. Jack And Diane, John Cougar (hated it but knew all the words)
8. Hurts So Good, John Cougar
9. Abracadabra, Steve Miller Band
10. Hard To Say I'm Sorry, Chicago
11. Tainted Love, Soft Cell
12. Chariots Of Fire, Vangelis
13. Harden My Heart, Quarterflash
14. Rosanna, Toto
15. I Can't Go For That, Daryl Hall and John Oates
16. 867-5309 (Jenny), Tommy Tutone
17. Key Largo, Bertie Higgins
18. You Should Hear How She Talks About You, Melissa Manchester
19. Waiting For A Girl Like You, Foreigner (I had a soft spot for Foreigner even though they were totally bogan)
20. Don't Talk To Strangers, Rick Springfield
21. The Sweetest Thing, Juice Newton
22. Always On My Mind, Willie Nelson
23. Shake It Up, Cars
24. Let It Whip, Dazz Band
25. We Got The Beat, Go-Go's
26. The Other Woman, Ray Parker Jr.
27. Turn Your Love Around, George Benson
28. Sweet Dreams, Air Supply
29. Only The Lonely, Motels
30. Who Can It Be Now?, Men At Work
31. Hold Me, Fleetwood Mac
32. Eye In The Sky, Alan Parsons Project
33. Let's Groove, Earth, Wind and Fire
34. Open Arms, Journey
35. Leader Of The Band, Dan Fogelberg
36. Leather And Lace, Stevie Nicks and Don Henley
37. Even The Nights Are Better, Air Supply
38. I've Never Been To Me, Charlene
39. '65 Love Affair, Paul Davis
40. Heat Of The Moment, Asia
41. Take It Easy On Me, Little River Band
42. Pac-man Fever, Buckner and Garcia
43. That Girl, Stevie Wonder
44. Private Eyes, Daryl Hall and John Oates
45. Trouble, Lindsey Buckingham
46. Making Love, Roberta Flack
47. Love's Been A Little Bit Hard On Me, Juice Newton
48. Young Turks, Rod Stewart
49. Freeze-frame, J. Geils Band
50. Keep The Fire Burnin', REO Speedwagon
51. Do You Believe In Love, Huey Lewis and The News
52. Cool Night, Paul Davis
53. Caught Up In You, 38 Special
54. Why Do Fools Fall In Love?, Diana Ross
55. Love In The First Degree, Alabama
56. Hooked On Classics, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (I REALLY hated this one)
57. Wasted On The Way, Crosby, Stills and Nash
58. Think I'm In Love, Eddie Money
59. Love Is In Control, Donna Summer
60. Personally, Karla Bonoff
61. One Hundred Ways, Quincy Jones
62. Blue Eyes, Elton John
63. Our Lips Are Sealed, Go-Go's
64. You Could Have Been Wih Me, Sheena Easton
65. You Can Do Magic, America
66. Did It In A Minute, Daryl Hall and John Oates
67. I Ran, A Flock Of Seagulls
68. Somebody's Baby, Jackson Browne
69. Oh No, Commodores
70. Take It Away, Paul McCartney
71. It's Gonna Take A Miracle, Deneice Williams
72. Love Will Turn You Around, Kenny Rogers
73. Don't Stop Bellevin', Journey
74. Comin' In And Out Of Your Life, Barbra Streisand
75. Gloria, Laura Branigan
76. Empty Garden, Elton John
77. Yesterday's Songs, Neil Diamond
78. Crimson And Clover, Joan Jett and The Blackhearts
79. Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic, Police
80. Here I Am, Air Supply
81. I Keep Forgettin', Michael Mcdonald
82. Get Down On It, Kool and The Gang
83. Any Day Now, Ronnie Milsap
84. Make A Move On Me, Olivia Newton-John
85. Take My Heart, Kool and The Gang
86. Mirror Mirror, Diana Ross
87. Vacation, Go-Go's
88. (Oh) Pretty Woman, Van Halen
89. Should I Do It, Pointer Sisters
90. Hot In The City, Billy Idol
91. Kids In America, Kim Wilde
92. Man On Your Mind, Little River Band
93. What's Forever For, Michael Murphy
94. Waiting On A Friend, Rolling Stones
95. Do I Do, Stevie Wonder
96. Working For The Weekend, Loverboy
97. Goin' Down, Greg Guidry
98. Arthur's Theme, Christopher Cross
99. Through The Years, Kenny Rogers
100. Edge Of Seventeen, Stevie Nicks

I AM NOT DEAD

Okay, it's been over a MONTH since my last confession, I mean, blog. Really, it's pretty sad, but my excuse is that I've been almost continuously working since I got back from holiday. Truly! I know that as a self-employed person I should be pleased about the fact that I am so busy - lots of other people in business would be over the moon. But I would be pleased to have just a little less work. Working till one last night did not have me in raptures going "gosh business is going so well!". I can tell you.

So, has there been anything of interest in my life that I feel like sharing? Let me see. I did have people commenting last week about what a socialite I was. It seems that my photo managed to appear twice on the social pages of the local free rag, the Capital Times. Which ius kinda funny cos I've been too busy to go out much. The two nights I go out I manage to get in the papers. Very amusing. To me anyway.

The holiday was great. Not long enough and way too much driving. SOD doesn't drive and I like to drive very much but there was probably too much time behind the wheel and not enough time doing other things. But it was fun. We had a great night with my brother drinking wine. We ended up putting on all the old records of our childhood which Greg still had stashed away in a big trunk. Was that ever great. Nostalgia is a strange thing. Especially under the influence of copious amounts of wine. (Very good wine too.) SOD and I couldn't remember going off to bed. Smoked too many cigarettes and felt rough doing the trip from Christchurch to Dunners.

And so, what else. Went to Fly My Pretties - only relevant to NZ readers. It was so very very good. It was the Saturday night - the final night - so the vibe was great. The only problem was how much people were drinking which made everyone a bit loud. I had to put on my scary authoritarian voice and told the giggling tittering bimbos in front of us to "shut the fuck up". Wow, rather than turn around and give me the finger they were actually really apologetic. It was pretty funny. I hope it wasn't a respect to an elder. If it was then I should also have slapped them. Hopefully it was just human decency - which makes me feel bad for swearing at them. But at least it shut them up and we happily enjoyed the remainder of the gig.

Sadly that is about all I have to impart. Except that I just bought some new CDs. Oh, and I recently managed to finish a book. But that was mainly read just before going on holiday. Debut novel by Louise Wareham, American writer living in NZ, called Since You Ask, published in NY. Really enjoyed it. A writer to look out for. Back into NZ fiction now for a while with Elizabeth Knox's Dreamhunter.

Listening to: Ivy, assorted downloaded files

blog interrupted

The Mountain Goats were so great. Really great. Astonishingly great. Just as much storytellers as musicians. Chatting between songs. I laughed a great deal. Music reviewers are funny people. I met one of them last night. There was another music reviewer there that we were laughing at. I'm not naming names. I drank more than I should and today has been a bit rough. But it was worth it. Had lots of fun and caught up with a few friends. One thing I didn't point out is that the Mountain Goats featured on the soundtrack of Campbell Walker's film Little Bits of Light which I raved on about in another blog post. In fact, they were the soundtrack. And it was a perfect match to the film.

Anyway - heading off in the morning so won't be posting for a while.

Got to remember to:
charge the camera
charge the phone
make a thermos of coffee for the trip
collect together phone numbers of southern friends
make sure I've got the hotel info
get up in time for the ferry
make sure there's enough food so the teenagers don't starve (yes, I'm escaping sans enfants)

Later.

Smoke and Mirrors

SOD's brother Ben has a major show of his work at Aratoi Museum, and the opening is tonight. We've timed our holiday rather badly - we don't have time to head over the hill to Masterton to get to it as we are booked for the early ferry in the morning. How disorganised is that? Anyway, I designed his catalogue for the show and thought I'd get it up online. Here's the link. It's about 1Mb. The cover looks great. The title in the printed version is done in UV overgloss (printing/design geeks will get this). Looks pretty cool. Hopefully we'll get to check out the show the weekend we get back.

O O O I'm so Excited!

Yes indeed I am. I've been dabbling in the downloading lately. Just picking up a bit of new music here and there. I was doing a search for Dntel (essentially Jimmy Tamborello, who put out the fantastic Life is Full of Possibilities a few years back and who is also half of Postal Service together with Death Cab for Cutie's Benjamin Gibbard) and found an album with a Dntel mix. It's called Monika Force. Celebrates 40 releases under the german label of the same name. This is the first time in ages I've listened to something and just immediately loved it. It's got some chocolatey smooth synth but with that slightly dark germanic edge at times. Nice electronica, slightly glitchy. European sensibilities. What fucking topped it all off with a cherry was a cover of Brian Eno's "I'll Come Running" off Another Green World. In a German accent. Loving it. Hey, and there's a song called "Burka Blue" by an Afghani all-girl band. First listen only so far, but I can see this being on heavy rotation for a few weeks at least.

And I was right about my "Masochistic Tendencies" post. Three hits a day at least for specific searches. I wonder if many of them stick around.

holiday highlight

One of the highlights of our little southern tour is the opening of Matt Couper's show Arbroath Devotional in Christchurch on the night before we head home. Looking good, Mr Couper!

bloc party

Got my ticket for Mountain Goats. Picked up a ticket for Fly My Pretties while I was there. And, of course, there had to be the obligatory CD purchase while I was there. Picked up Bloc Party, Silent Alarm. Not bad. Still on the first listen. Very Brit-pop.

Holiday countdown: five days to go.

Polanksi No. 2

Listening to: Department of Eagles, Whitey on the Moon UK LP

I just LOVE these guys. Favourite song on the album: Piano in the Bathtub.

Here's a nice little quote about them.

***"A curiously charming, genre-jumping music that carries trace echoes of the Beta Band, Beck, and (on occasion) Blur at their most whimsical. Eclecticism can often seem forced, but Department of Eagles' magpie instincts are waggish, beguiling, and natural." - Record Collector

Okay, we watched Repulsion this afternoon and I was suitably impressed. I'm glad we saw it soon after his first film – I could spot a few recurring character traits in his characters that I wouldn't have noticed if I'd left more time between viewing. His detached women. His nervous strained men. The cigarettes smoked when under duress. The draped bodies. He likes to film women undressing. The casual disrobing. The only thing that annoyed me was her false eyelashes. Really Roman, they just don't stay on after a rough night of insomnia. And your hair doesn't stay that pretty. But hey, it's only recently that we have come to expect some naturalistic fashioning to our films. But fuck, I loved it. The shot composition was something to be wondered at. You just don't get that nowadays.

Polanski trio

Went to the vid store last night and got out three Polanski films: Knife in the Water, Repulsion, and Cul-de-sac.

I realised that I've only seen one Polanski film. Good lord. I've only seen Rosemary's Baby. How slack of me.

We've decided to watch the films chronologically, so we watched Knife in the Water (1963) last night. This was his feature debut, made in his native Poland. The next two films made were UK productions: Repulsion and Cul-de-Sac.

I enjoyed Knife in the Water. It's great to see a psychological drama that doesn't stoop to sensational plot devices. Set on a yacht over a period of two days, with only three characters, it was still totally engaging. I'm looking forward to watching the other two films.

Goats

Hey hey! The Mountain Goats are coming to Wellington. Thursday 8 Sept at Bodega. Gonna be there. Woohoo.